UK must improve its recruitment rate in clinical trials, report says

Clinical trials in the United Kingdom cost significantly more than in other European countries, largely because of the need for lengthy negotiations with NHS organisations and poor rates of recruitment, concludes a report produced for the drug company Novartis.1

The number of trial applications in the UK has been falling and could fall further, it warns, unless the system is made more efficient and a “cultural shift” takes place in the NHS.

The report, by Europe Economics, a consultancy that specialises in the application of economics to public policy, says that the average cost of a trial per patient in the UK is now €9758 (£7890; $12 650), higher than in Spain (€7310), Germany (€7232), Italy (€5810), …